a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gardening tool for use to remove any kind of weeds from a lawn or turf even if this tool is more particularly designed for use to extract weeds having a tap root, such as dandelions. More particularly, the invention realtes to a gardening tool which is easy to operate and is very effective not only to extract weeds but also to collect the so extracted weeds, to aerate the ground and to make holes into this ground in order to plant bulbs.
b) Brief Description of the Invention
Manually operated tools for extracting weeds from lawns and turf are known in the art. One reason for which such tools have been devised and are still being used is that they obviate the need for pesticides if the lawn or turf does not have too many weeds growing thereon.
Most of the weed extracting tools known in the art basically comprises a shaft provided at one end with a handle and at the other end with a footrest and an extraction tube. Use of this tool is quite simple. The lower end of the tube is positioned around the stem of a weed to be extracted. Then, the tube is inserted into the ground by pressing on the handle or preferably only the footrest. Last of all, the tube containing a plug of earth or soil in which is embedded the root of the weed to be extracted is removed.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,439,524 issued to E. E. Moore on Apr. 13, 1948 discloses a "tubular hand garden weeder" having a handle at each end and a shaft joining the two. Extraction tubes of two different diameters are fixed to each end of the shaft, respectively. This tool is interesting in that its opposite tubes make it useful for extracting weeds of different sizes. However, nothing is provided for collecting the plugs of earth or soil that are extracted. Moreover, the way the tool is devised blocks the view of the top of the extraction tube when the operator looks down, thus making it difficult for the operator to precisely locate the tube over a weed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,098,672 issued to Husband on Jul. 23, 1963 discloses a "turf plugger" designed to remove plugs of soil to aerate a turf. This device comprises a shaft provided with a handle at the upper end and with a combined step member and footrest at the other end, said combined step member and footrest being adjacent to an extraction tube and extending in the same direction as the handle. This tool is efficient and easy to use. However, one again nothing is provided for collecting the plugs of earth or soil that are extracted. Moreover, there is no way of adjusting the depth of penetration of the tube according to the sizes of the weeds to be extracted.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,219,378 issued to Padoshek on Nov. 23, 1965 discloses a "lawn perforator and weeder", comprising a straight shaft provided at one hand with a handle, and at the other end with a frusto-conical extraction tube. The latter is large enough to store a plurality of plugs but is very difficult to move around, because the tool only has a straight handle. Moreover, there is no way of adjusting the depth of penetration of the tube into the soil in use.
In Applicant's Canadian patent application No. 2,030,154 which was filed on Nov. 16, 1990 and laid-open to public inspection on May 18, 1992, and whose subject matter is incorporated herewith by reference, there is disclosed a tool for use to remove weeds, especially dandelions, which comprises an open rectangular frame having an upper rod-like member defining a handle and a lower rod-like member of a length sufficient to receive the foot of an operator. This open rectangular frame gives room not only to the foot of the operator, but also to his or her knee, thereby making the tool much easier to use. The tool also comprises a tapered extraction tube externally secured to a lower lateral side of the frame. This particular positioning of the extraction tube is of particular importance, since, thanks to its eccentric position, a rotational force may be applied to it by both the hand and foot of the operator which holds the frame, respectively. Thanks to its structure, the taperated extraction tube is also self-cleaning, as it empties automatically when another plug of soil or earth containing a weed to be extracted is inserted therein.
If the tool devised by the instant Applicants and described in their Canadian laid-open patent application No. 2,030,154 is much efficient in use than any other weed-extracting tools known to them, like those disclosed in the above mentioned U.S. patents, it still has the same deficiencies as the others, namely a lack of proper means for collecting the plugs of earth or soil that are extracted, and a lack of means for adjusting the depth of penetration of the weed-extracting tube, when the same is used to acrate the ground or to make holes to receive bulbs of plants or flowers.